Posted
by
CmdrTaco
on Monday May 24, 2010 @12:39PM
from the well-of-course-he-will dept.

Stoobalou writes "Apple's worst-kept secret will be revealed on June 7. A press release from Apple HQ has made it almost certain that the company will announce the new iPhone 4G on June 7, in our opinion, at least. The missive from Cupertino simply states that Steve Jobs will kick off the Worldwide Developers Conference 2010 with a keynote address. The thing is, Apple's enigmatic frontman doesn't turn up to these geeky WWDC shindigs unless he has something to announce that will get the hyped-up gang of Apple fanboys and girls a-whoopin' and a-hollerin'."

As Jobs said in a 2007 interview: "so far, software coupled with its hardware runs better than software decoupled from the hardware that runs it." He said this sitting next to Gates... they were coupled....

Yeah, it is what I want. I've been doing comp/net security for twenty years. I don't want to "fiddle" with things anymore. I just want them to work, and stay the hell out of my way when they do so.

It's awesome that you haven't hit the point in your life that I've hit in mine yet... the point where you're just tired of compiling kernels, writing wrappers and patches to make things work the way you want, etc... the point where you want your computational device to quietly cough up its functionality without wrestling it's user into an inescapable web-of-tweaks, but it would be more awesome if you tried very hard not to poo poo those of us who participated joyously on the front lines of GPL and other, better open source licenses, but who now really just want to see some tits and go have a sandwich.

Yes! Bang on. I have to say, I'm really grateful to the people who've put so much into FOSS, but after 10 years I'm right with you. I replaced my Ubuntu desktop and laptop with a Mac Mini 2 years ago, and since then I've upgraded twice and now have a MacBook Pro for me, MacBook for my wife, an iPhone each with calendar syncing between the 4 devices, and I'm really happy. It all works great, I've so far never had a breakage after running software update, and I actually enjoy using a computer again.

I'm just about to put an order in to replace my MythTV setup (backend in the outhouse, frontend in the living room) with a Sky+ HD hardware DVR. Every upgrade of Ubuntu breaks something, and MythTV still has random breakage. I never thought I would have a fully closed/proprietary setup, but in all honesty I don't have the time to spend my saturdays messing around with stuff any more. If there was a polished and rock solid semi-proprietary turnkey MythTV setup available I'd go for it, but I don't think there is.

Mac OS X is a great OS because it both "just works" and lets you tinker when you want to. It's baffling to me that Apple has convinced so many people that they have to keep an iron grip in order to provide usability, when half of their product line is a counterexample.

Mac OS X is a great OS because it both "just works" and lets you tinker when you want to. It's baffling to me that Apple has convinced so many people that they have to keep an iron grip in order to provide usability, when half of their product line is a counterexample.

Well, for me the difference is that a fucking smartphone is something I do not want to invest even minutes in to tinker with. I surely wouldn't tolerate that kind of iron grip on a computer. But a phone is something that goes into my pocket and goes out again only to use it.

I have to say that a while ago I realized that I just can't handhold every bit on every digital device I'm using. So I opted to source parts of this out, so to say. Let others take care of that. Iron grip? Yeah, maybe. Better than me hav

Funny, I recently switched back to Ubuntu (and Android/google web apps) from Mac stuff for largely the same reasons. It felt like OS X started being neglected once the iPhone became a big money-maker. Depends on your specific needs, I suppose. I'm still doing nixy things all day, so stuff just works better on a full-blown Linux machine. I switched workstations not too long ago, but before that I was running Linux on a Mac pro that formerly ran Leopard.
Regardless, I don't see myself switching back to Windo

Jobs is going to loose the smart phone wars just like he lost the PC wars. My phone has a better resolution, a better network, tethering app, cheaper data plan, better data service, supports Flash, can run multiple apps at the same time, works with Windows, Apple and Linux, backs up my data online, lets me put apps and icons on my home screen how I want, etc. etc. If Jobs wants to be a contender he will need to do the one thing he hates most... give up control to users and outside developers. If he doesn't get on other cell providers this year, it is game, set, match.

Otherwise, if he keeps going the way he is, he will be left owning 2-6% of the smart phone market with his 2-6% being users obsessed with devices they believe to shiny beautiful and magical.

My iPhone has tethering (no jailbreak), and I have a choice of carriers (no jailbreak), a cheap data plan (unlimited 3G and edge included in my plan, which is cost equivalent to the blackberry/HTC/WinMob handset plans), lets me put apps and icons on my home screen how I want (although not with widgets - that is a very cool feature of Droid that I wish he iPhone had), and my phone also works on Windows, Mac and Linux (jailbreak required for sync on Ubuntu though if I want it).

Define loose[sic] the market. Mac has "lost" the PC wars, yet Apple remains very much in the black.

Apple sold 2.94 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing a 33 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The company also sold 8.75 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 131 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. iPod sales came in at 10.89 million units, representing a one percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

"We're thrilled to report our best non-holiday quarter ever, with revenues up 49 percent and profits up 90 percent," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We've launched our revolutionary new iPad and users are loving it, and we have several more extraordinary products in the pipeline for this year."

As of this year, they're in the Top 10 companies globally for Market Cap.

WHO CARES IF THEY AREN'T #1! Apple set out to make good devices and a good UI for people. They're profitable doing so.

Then again I guess Kia, BMW, Benz, Chrysler, Renault, and Fiat are loosing[sic] the Automotive Market because they're not Toyota (1), GM (2) or VW (3).

Last time I checked, Apple has both larger revenues and larger profits than any other manufacterer of consumer desktop and laptop computers on the market. I'd be happy to "lose" like that too.

I don't know about revenues and profits, but in terms of units sold, the top 6 worldwide are HP, Acer, Dell, Lenovo, ASUS, and Toshiba according to Gartner's 1Q 2010 report [gartner.com] released on April 15th.

As you can see, every single company is making less money than Apple, except for HP. And I'll bet you that when you look up HP's annual financial reports, it will show they're not making that money in the PC-market.

So would you be willing to use OSX if it was just on non-Apple hardware? Would a Hackintosh suit your needs? Or is that glowing logo a necessity for you?

If a Hackintosh provided the same experience, yes, it would work. However, you might note that a Hackintosh does not provide the same experience, because first you have to hack it together to work (hence the name) and then you have to do without support from Apple.

Even with the general decrease in prices over the past couple of decades, for most people the price of a computer is still beyond the blind impulse buy range. People are not blindly throwing down $1000+, and they're not somehow being forced into buying Apple.

Everyone's used windows, they know there are PCs available for cheaper than the average mac, yet they're still paying the money and ending up happy about their purchase. There's nothing wrong with that. They aren't being taken advantage of, they aren't

You and many others believe that because Apple has such a small market share they must somehow be unsuccessful, and that they "lost" the PC war. Microsoft's almost complete dominance of the desktop has changed the definition of "success" in the eyes of the public at large, especially in the tech industry. Their monopoly turned the focus on market share, and most people have come to accept it is the critical metric for a company's success or failure. I'm constantly surprised how the mainstream media and many otherwise intelligent people subscribe to the misconception that if a company hasn't achieved total market domination they've "lost", never mind the fact they're profitable.

And Apple has proven to be astonishingly profitable. Revenue and profits (yes, the things that people who run companies do know about) are setting new records every quarter, and in terms of market capitalization, they recently leapfrogged Wal-Mart as the third most valuable company in the US, behind only Microsoft and Exxon Mobil. Based on Microsoft's flat share price and the anticipated leap in Apple's following the release of the 4th generation iPhone, as well as continued strong demand for iPhones and iPads, many analysts expect Apple to overtake Microsoft as the second most valuable American company sometime this summer, and Morgan Stanley today raised their target price for Apple stock to $310 USD, based on their expectation that Apple will sell 61.5 million iPhones in 2011.

Looks like the "PC war" was only a battle after all, and the true war, the war for mobile Internet, is only just beginning. Apple is again one of the giants jostling for position in this one, but the other contender is Google, and this time Microsoft is watching from the sidelines. Microsoft saw this coming and couldn't do anything about it; they don't have a dog in the mobile fight and they're watching the next great business frontier passing them by and receding in the distance. The vast majority of the world's users will not connect to the Web with a desktop or a laptop computer, but via a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet, and the market will be vastly larger than the PC market. That translates to hundreds of millions, or billions, of eyeballs for ads, credit card numbers, customer profiles etc., and Google is terrified that Apple's dramatically growing influence in mobile, including the App Store model and the iAd platform will pose a critical threat to their core business. People have commented that the rivalry between Apple and Google is rapidly turning into open war, and they're right. Make no mistake, Google sees themselves in a fight for survival, and Microsoft seems so irrelevant now.

I believe that if Apple continues to fire on all cylinders and their plans come to fruition, then Apple has a damned good shot at becoming the most valuable and profitable company on the planet within the next 2 years. Not bad for the loser of the PC war.

I don't know if Apple's market share is so much smaller comparing to Dell, HP, Gateway, Acer or any other PC manufacturer out there. But the real secret is of course that Apple is all about the "premium price point". Almost all of the computers they sell are in the $1000+ category, while the rest of the market mainly focusses on the low end.

Apple tries to gain a competitive advantage by offering better products, not cheaper ones like most other companies. You can agree or disagree on whether Apple is succes

::shrug:: defend it however you want. The fact is, they are selling less numbers of the same hardware, but making more money. If you can't see that means they are charging more than their competition for the same hardware, I don't know what to tell you.

I don't think Apple is selling the same hardware as most other PC companies. For instance, Apple is selling a lot of all-in-one desktop computers, which isn't big in the PC-world at all. Also, Apple is selling laptops with very long battery life, without sacrificing on the looks, weight and performance too much. That's the sort of stuff people will pay premium for. And that's why Apple is making more money than the rest.

And besides, if it's the software that people like so much, why not just build a Hackintosh?

Because of the same reasons the year of the Linux desktop has never arrived.

Wrong. McDonalds became #1 by pushing cheap assed burgers well below the price of a decent burger.

When push comes to shove a much higher percentage of people are willing to get something that works, even if barely so, at a significant cost savings. Same reason why Wal-mart is the #1 retailer. I haven't seen a Wal-mart commercial in YEARS. Sometimes I doubt that they even have a real marketing department. They're #1 though, because while they sell junk, it's CHEAP junk.

The same applies to PC's. HP sells a metric ton of systems because their systems are cheap. Same with the other top few manufacturers. Together, they collectively stomp Apple pretty good.

Apple itself couldn't even survive without their draconian tying of hardware to their OS. When clones were licensed and they came with cheaper hardware even Apple's customers FLOCKED to the clone makers, nearly bankrupting Apple, because what most of them wanted was MacOS. Most couldn't care less what hardware the OS ran on. This is the reason why Jobs immediately terminated the clone licenses upon his return to the company.

Apple has basically just managed to create an OS so good that they can con you into paying 3x as much for a plain old computer with a "Can run MacOS!" flag set (and they've also convinced users to rejoice in the fact that they're overpaying for this hardware).

Sure, you can claim that "They're a hardware company.", but that's misleading. Let them drop MacOS (software) and sell their shiny machines with Windows and see just how fast that company tanks. They're a hardware company as much as a strip club is an alcohol vendor - it might be what they make money off of but people aren't paying $5 for a bottle of Bud Light because they just like the way you pour it.

In fact, Burger King centered their marketing for the longest time on the fact that they basically matched McDonalds price point, but offered more beef for the same money.

McDonalds is one of the prime examples of clever marketing over quality. The other thing that was critical to their success was consistency. They use the same recipe and equipment everywhere. They are obsessive over making sure your coffee, burger, whatever is the same anywhere in the country. It feels

Jobs is going to loose the smart phone wars just like he lost the PC wars.

Well considering that Apple basically owns the high end of the computer market where the profits are and that the only aim of a corporation is to make money. I don't think Apple lost at all.

Also Apple is currently the most profitable cell phone manufacturer in the world, I don't think either they or their shareholders are crying right now. Yes, the iPhone generates more profits than every Nokia sold worldwide combined.

Jeez, refuting you people gets tiresome at times. . .
"Jobs is going to loose the smart phone wars just like he lost the PC wars."
- You mean like he lost the MP3 player wars. . ..ooops, he won that one. How about how he lost the digital music store wars. . . . dang, Apple won that one too! . . ..Maybe it's time you woke up and realized it is not the 80's and the war you are using as your reference may not have much relevance in the market you are discussing? There have always been multiple manufacturers, multiple OS versions, multiple form factors in the cell market and I don't see that changing, nor do I see anyone owning it all.
"My phone has a better . .."
- 5 words in and I can already see YOU JUST DON'T GET IT! The iPhone's popularity has nothing to do with point by point feature list comparisons. If you think that is a valid argument in this market then you obviously have no idea why the iPhone is popular to the average consumer.
"If he doesn't get on other cell providers this year, it is game, set, match. "
- Really? Care to put a firm timetable on your prediction? Maybe wager some money? Don't bet anything you're not prepared to lose. As one person on here has pointed out, I'm not too worried about the doom and gloom prognosticators, Apple has been about to die for 30+ years not and not only are they not dead, they are stronger than ever.
"his 2-6% being users obsessed with devices they believe to shiny beautiful and magical."
- I'm sure this ridiculous statement allows you to sleep at night, but the blatant truth is that is not reality. It goes back to my previous point, YOU DON'T GET IT. . . . Which is fine, you don't understand the market appeals of the iPhone then you aren't the target demographic, but in your attempt to explain away your own ignorance don't be a simplistic fool and something so ridiculously stupid.

Me too. I look at my phone the same way as I look at my dishwasher or microwave. Yeah there may be a little computer running things behind the scene, but if the things are made well, the abstraction shouldn't leak that information.

I know a citation is needed and a quick googling of apple mobile revenue percentage didn't provide what I was looking for, but, whilst only having a 3& global market share, apple makes something like 90% of the global.

That may not be the exact percentage, but it is something truly ridiculous like that.

I know a citation is needed and a quick googling of apple mobile revenue percentage didn't provide what I was looking for, but, whilst only having a 3& global market share, apple makes something like 90% of the global.

um...90% of the global what? I think you left a word out at the end of that sentence:-)

Irrelevant. Stop trying to change the subject; lets focus on what you originally said.

You claimed that the "majority" have chosen an iPhone. I gave you a link that shows Apple is sixth overall for worldwide cell-phone sales. Sixth place and 3% of total sales hardly constitutes a "majority".

For a marginal player, they are doing an exceptional job of both capturing outsized profits and driving every other company's cell phone designs and features. They have changed the assumptions about what a smartphone is and in the process they have dramatically grown that market, as people who used to use the inaptly-named "feature phones" started buying smartphones instead. They may not be large in total cell phone market share, but "marginal" is the wrong word to describe them.

The idea of being locked out of a platform that's pretty good but could be
so much better is incredibly frustrating to people with the desire and
capability to make it their idea of better. Slashdot has a high percentage
of such people. Note that Slashdot is also poorly representative of the
population in general.

Me personally, I don't want an iPhone because of my problems with Apples restrictions regarding development and your freedom to use your phone. In all honesty, an iPhone would likely provide a better experience than the phone I'm using now...but I don't care. The only way I can show Apple my dissatisfaction with their methods is by voting with my wallet, which is what I've done.

'The iPhone still has a bigger share, at 15.4 percent (up 5 points), but Android is catching up fast with 9.6 percent (up 8 points). All other smartphones lost relative share during the quarter, even RIM Blackberries, although they still grew in absolute numbers.' - http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/19/iphone-android-25-percent/ [techcrunch.com]

You know what the funniest part of your post is? Because I spoke poorly of Apple, you assumed that I'm using one of Google's phones (which I'm not). On top of that, we were discussing features, and you changed the subject to information, an entirely different topic.

What's the matter? Got nothing to say about the fact that, good or bad, Apple goes for the "walled garden" approach?

It seems like Apple, while offering some things that may appeal to the slashdot crowd (OS X), and some things that don't (iPhone) but slashdot seems compelled to discuss them to death anyway.

I liken it to a Ford enthusiast's forum which continues to have articles about GM submitted to the feed by its members, only for those same members to talk about how they don't want to hear about GM any more.

Or a heavy metal forum that seems obsessed with talking about indie music, and moaning bitterly about how indie m

Depends. I can respect that from a usability standpoint, it's an impressive device. I like the UI, and it works well. HOWEVER, from a simple political perspective, the iPhone is just WRONG. They way it's locked down is repulsive to many on a site that is heavily frequented by people involved in a movement (OSS) that stipulates that users should have absolute control over their systems.

It's akin to having almost everything you could want but living as a slave, versus living as a free man with much less. I'm willing to accept a slightly lower standard of living if it means maintaining my freedom to do and act as I wish. Most people here seem to have similar views.

HOWEVER, from a simple political perspective, the iPhone is just WRONG. They way it's locked down is repulsive to many on a site that is heavily frequented by people involved in a movement (OSS) that stipulates that users should have absolute control over their systems.

THEN FUCKING JAILBREAK IT.

Welcome to the future. Or actually the past, since we have already been down this road (HA!) with cars. Average users have a locked down device that basically works pretty well and they don't really maintain. Tech

Apple's enigmatic frontman doesn't turn up to these geeky WWDC shindigs unless he has something to announce which will get the hyped-up gang of Apple fanboys and girls a-whoopin' and a-hollerin'.

Really? According to Wikipedia, Jobs has done the keynote every year since 1998, except for last year when he was out for health reasons. But hey, who cares about facts, let's just poke fun at those stupid fanbois!

In reality it is more often than not a self-congratualtory mutual back-slapping iPropaganda outing for Apple insiders and the company's tame press pack.

Normally Steve is there for the keynote address which lasts a few hours. The rest of the conference lasts 4 1/2 more days. And most of it is geared specifically for developers. The press really only shows up for the keynote and ignores the rest of it.

I really don't understand it. I caved and got one recently. I know I'm late to the party, but the company-negotiated data plan was just too good. I don't own a single piece of Apple equipment except for that phone, and I'm very happy with it. The only thing I find a bit annoying is the crappy video codec support.

It's a good phone, but it's not made for tinkering with, which is going to prompt a lot of hate on a site whose primary demographic is people who love to tinker with things.

As an iPhone developer I'm very happy with Apple's walled garden, but maybe this is because my 9-5 is game development, where all the biggest platforms are walled gardens. I get an industry standard cut of the profits, there's a minimum of casual piracy of my work, the development environment is first rate and extremely cheap ($100! Mind-bogglingly cheap to someone who comes from an industry where engine licenses run in the low millions, and the standard 3D modeling package is $3500), and the hardware platform is standardized enough to make it easy to work with.

I can't imagine trying to develop for Android, where the hardware is going to be all over the place. That's all well and good for beefy PCs, but for an embedded system? How could you possibly optimize sufficiently for a multi-target mobile platform and still turn software around quickly enough to be profitable?

Ultimately people's preferences are going to reflect how and why they use their phones, and for developers it will reflect their target demographic. Slashdot will never love the iPhone because it isn't *for* them, which suggests that they aren't the most important people out there - and that's a message nobody likes to receive.

I think even people who once said I was being harsh on Apple are now coming around to seeing what a ridiculous and often impractical and restrictive company Apple actually is. In time, I think everyone will tire of it -- even the lay people.

I think even people who once said I was being harsh on Apple are now coming around to seeing what a ridiculous and often impractical and restrictive company Apple actually is. In time, I think everyone will tire of it -- even the lay people.

Yeah, I mean, after ten years or dismissing Apple, the Slashcrowd has got to be right sooner or later

I don't know. They're selling a gazillion iPads, Apple's stock continues to move upward, and I believe that a recent/. story highlighted the fact that Apple is gaining grounds on the higher ranked cell phone providers.

Maybe the FOSS crowd is increasing in animosity toward Apple, but "the lay people" are clamoring for more as far as I can tell.

They're selling a gazillion iPads, Apple's stock continues to move upward, and I believe that a recent/. story highlighted the fact that Apple is gaining grounds on the higher ranked cell phone providers.

And there you have, in a nutshell, what separates "informed user" from "fanboi"... namely that an informed user looks at what they just purchased, enjoys using it and feels he/she has got good value for money. But only a fanboi is so ardently rabid that he/she wants their manufacturer of choice to wipe eve

And on/. we have reverse fanbois (hatebois?), who don't look at what people are purchasing, don't consider that using it may be enjoyable and don't think anybody is getting good value for money.

These hatebois are so ardently rabid that they want the manufacturer of this product to be wiped off the map, without considering that possibly - just possibly - having competition in the market is a good thing.

Quite the contrary, we like competition here. What we don't like is anti-competitive behaviors, like those perpetrated by Apple recently.

These hatebois are so ardently rabid that they want the manufacturer of this product to be wiped off the map

Personally, what I'd like is for Apple to stop being stupid and fix some of the things that we (its users and developers) have been complaining about for a while now. I always prefer reform. However, if that fails to happen, extinction will do quite nicely. That is the path that all software companies who flagrantly ignore its users and developers should take, no exceptions (not even shiny, pretty ones).

who don't look at what people are purchasing, don't consider that using it may be enjoyable and don't think anybody is getting good value for money

Are you talking about iPhones or cheap cocaine? People are purchasing cocaine, and many of those people enjoy it for a brief time. But the experience of cocaine grows bitter after a time, and then it destroys lives. Overly dramatic? Yes - it is merely an illustration of the fact that people buying a product and enjoying it does not legitimatize it, especially not in the eyes of the people here.
Personally, I try to encourage people to choose more open options that will give them greater flexibility for the future.

"Gaining grounds on the higher ranked cell phone providers" is a very generous way of saying what's happening. Nokia had 37% of a bit over 1.2 billion mobile phones sold in 2009, Samsung 21%, LG 11%, SE & Motorola both 5%; it won't change much in 2010 (Nokia, for one, actually gained a bit). And at this point a typical ranking ends. But by looking at numbers, Apple had...2%. Should have 3 this year, I guess.Nokia itself sells annually an order of magnitude more mobile phones than the total number of iPhones ever sold.

Yeah, it's great to target only "premium" people living in "premium" places; while relying on Chinese sweatshops (Nokia owns all 15 of their fabs; only 2 in China; 7 in the EU) and not developing (but possibly freeriding on it...we'll see how this case will end) the fundamental underlying tech. Not striving to give most of hummanity the means for communication.

"Crappy"? If anything, universally one of the more reliable, with great battery times and reception.

Some of what you say makes sense, but it is worthwhile to cut through some of the disinformation.

They're selling a gazillion iPads

I thought the number is closer to 1-2 million at this point. I've read expectations for about 7 mil over the course of 2010. Certainly decent number, even without the hyperbole or fictional units. Might as well get it right. Just to provide some perspective, there were 5.2 million Android OS devices sold in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2010.

cell phone providers

I'm confused, do you mean service providers, cell phone manufacturers, or OS authors? Apple is the last two, but definitely not the first. I'm going to assume that you mean the last one (an operating system author), the one that most people here care about.

Apple is gaining grounds on the higher ranked cell phone providers

Android OS phones beat iPhone OS sales last quarter in North America (source [pcworld.com]). As that article states, there are several reasons that this was inevitable, but most of those factors will still be in play in a year. More interesting than the fact that Android pulled out a small victory is the fact that it increased its market share so quickly. It didn't get a serious hardware contender until Fall 2009, and they already overtook iPhone OS in sales domestically.

"the lay people" are clamoring for more as far as I can tell

The above information should show that this isn't entirely true. There are a ton of "lay people" who have honestly become sick of Apple and their buffoonery. Merely as an example: my father has a 1st gen iPhone. He regularly has to use USB flash drives as apart of his job, and liked the idea of using his iPhone instead for USB file transfer. The iPhone, magically, does not have Mass Storage capability out of the box. One has to download an app to make it work, an app that wasn't around since day 1 of the iPhone. Even now, this probably isn't an app that an average "lay person" even knows to look for. My father knows that my mother's phone (an ancient blackberry) and my phone (a G1) both do this without a problem. Moreover, when he asks whether the brand new iPhones can do this simple task out of the box, the answer will still be a resounding "no". He has expressed to me that for this and several other reasons, he will not be wanting another iPhone to replace his current one when it dies. In conclusion, I agree that many of those annoying Apple issues that us FOSS people complain about will mean nothing to the average "lay person", but there are more issues than you think that are visible to your average smartphone user.

And I don't really care that Steve will announce the phone on June 7th, except that I know that it will be out in time for me to get it subsidized by AT&T as soon as I'm eligible. I mean, if they're going to charge me every f'in month as if I'm using a subsidized phone, they may as well pony up with new hardware every 20 months.

What I really want is the successor to the Nexus One to play with side by side. The iPhone is far more useful than it was 2 years ago, but I'll go with whatever works the best*.

No no no. It's real small. Ya ya ya.
Both in the literal and metaphorical sense. It would be neat if Apple were building up hype by pretending its yet another iPhone product while really presenting something completely different like Apple Solar Computing Caps with displays under the rim, or Apple iTunes for Linux. Or publicly announcing that Apple and Adobe have made up after a trip to the Bahamas and some intense couples counseling, and Flash will now be mandated in mobile Safari, not just an option.

Almost everything that Jobs will announce has already been revealed. Like the OP states, Apple fanboi's will likely hoop and hollar over anything Job's announces; however, its going to be hard for the average techie to get excited about some of the new "features" of the iphone, such as pseudo-multitasking, when the competitors such as Android and WebOS have had almost all of these features since day one.

Now with the recent release of Froyo (Android 2.2) at Google I/O, and the significant improvements brought with the upgrade, even pro-Apple sites such as Gizmodo feel that Android has Leapfrogged iPhone [gizmodo.com].

its going to be hard for the average techie to get excited about some of the new "features" of the iphone, such as pseudo-multitasking, when the competitors such as Android and WebOS have had almost all of these features since day one.

I'm very excited about "pseudo-multitasking" since it only gives the software developers what they need to do MOST of what is needed for multitasking. I love having the ability to customize my PC in a million different ways, run whatever software I want, etc. However, on my phone, I want it to work & be stable. I don't mind Apple being draconian on my phone.

As an aside, before my iPhone I had several Windows Mobile phones that also did multitasking before WebOS and Android or iPhone even existed. From what I've seen, I'll take Apple's version.

Android is accumulating an impressive list of features, but I still can't help feeling that it's coming at the phone platform in a wrong-headed fashion. I've been an iPhone user since the 3G first came out and have come to appreciate its simplicity. I go to Google I/O every year and each year I've tried to use the free phone(s) they give us as much as possible. And every time I come away feeling like Android would be a great OS on a larger form factor where the increased power it gives makes more sense, but not so great for a phone. Conversely, I have no interest in the iPad, but I'll probably get an Android tablet when it comes out.

Comparing Android and the iPhone OS is somewhat like an apples-to-oranges comparison (no pun intended)...the iPhone OS isn't really an OS, it's an application launcher whereas Android feels much more like a real OS. And I've realized I don't want a full OS on my phone, though I'll continue to give Android a chance to change my mind. I don't want to manage running applications on my phone so that the battery doesn't die after a couple of hours. At a minimum, I need Android to give me the ability to easily quit an application when I leave it rather than just dumping it into the background where I'll need to launch a task manager application to finally get rid of it. At I/O, I used both my iPhone and the Droid they sent us prior to the conference. When I'd get home at night, my ~2 year old iPhone would still have plenty of battery power whereas the Droid never made it through a full day at the conference without needing to be recharged. For me, empowering the user can't come at the cost of sucking the power out of the device.

On a purely feature-per-feature basis, Android does beat the iPhone. But it feels like those features have come at the cost of ignoring the little things that make using the phone pleasant. In addition to the clumsiness of task management, something as simple as the on-screen keyboard is an entirely frustrating experience when compared to the iPhone. Still, after using the EVO 4G they gave us, the hardware bar has been set and the new iPhone has to be pretty impressive to keep up, or I think we'll start to see Android take off based on the strength of the hardware alone.

And I want that to happen as much as anyone. I'm a Slashdotter...I like open rather than closed. And I've developed professionally in both Java and Objective-C and found Java to be significantly more pleasant to develop with. And I hate AT&T with a passion and would love to be able to switch back to T-Mobile or Sprint. Android would give me all of these things and yet I still can't get past the actual experience of using the devices. I want to, but I just can't agree with Gizmodo on this one...Android won't have leapfrogged the iPhone until it's at least as enjoyable to use as a phone.

Can you show me some examples of past "made up benchmarks" that make you expect them?

Lab benchmarks are pretty staple for the tech industry - they are not unique to Apple, and all are conducted with benching suites that often don't reflect real-world use. The same sort of people who take them as gospel are the same sorts of people who look at the benchmarks for the latest GPUs being tested at tomshardware.com.

Lock eyes on you from across the roomWander on over while the rhythms boomTake you in my hand and skip the clerk's nameThere's need here for the silly gameMake my way through the hipster crowdThe Apple store is the sky and I'm on your cloudMy fingers touch your screen and the angels cryZoom in close as the pinches fly

Leave this place, go back to the mallMy lips first touch outside in the hallIs the whole night what we've got in store?Whisper in my ear that you want to update moreAnd I jizz in my pants

No surprise this year. Jobs himself: check. New iPhone model: check. New firmware version: check. All is "déjà vu" ! The only possible surprise would be "OS4 for iPhone2G" (they said "no !"; now they should say "yes !").

No surprise this year. Jobs himself: check. New iPhone model: check. New firmware version: check. All is "déjà vu" ! The only possible surprise would be "OS4 for iPhone2G" (they said "no !"; now they should say "yes !").

Oh, I'd be pleasantly surprised by a 64GB nano, I'd rush out and buy it as my 16 is too small. I'd be pleasantly surprised by a lowered ipad price. I hope its not just all "phone" news.

Iphone total price with contract has dropped from around $3000 to around $2500 or so. Still way too steep for me. I'm not asking too much for a modest $50 to $100 off the price of an ipad, I hope.

Apple is on a yearly release cycle (For both the major SDK and hardware) - while Android has new devices released every month, hell even more than that - and a SDK that is constantly evolving (Good or bad)

The next year will be the "year of android" but Apple needs to tee up a home run next year (Unless there are unannounced features for the 4th generation iPhone).

Hopefully the iPhone will see some sort of "Services" architecture like Android's SDK - as a developer that is the real "Multitasking" that needs to take place.

A press release from Apple HQ has made it almost certain that the company will announce the new iPhone 4G on June 7th, in our opinion, at least.

And... your opinion, it turns out, is incorrect. Apple will not release an iPhone 4G when there is no 4G network to speak of in the United States. And before you say you are for some reason using the capital 'G' to talk about internal Apple hardware generations, even though no one has ever used that nomenclature for Apple hardware before, all the while ignoring that everyone else is using the capital 'G' to only refer to cell technology generations, let me point out that the new iPhone is only the THIRD major revision of the iPhone. The confusion usually is in separating the original iPhone from the iPhone 3G. These two phones are the same hardware generation, indicated by Apple's internal nomenclature for them (iPhone1,1 & iPhone1,2, respectively), and also by they fact that they are nearly identical but for a different baseband radio and a gps chip. The original iPhone is, in fact, a 3G phone (EDGE is technically 3G, 2.5G is a made up marketing term). The iPhone 3GS is distinct enough in platform from the iPhone & iPhone 3G to be a generation bump, and it's indicated by Apple's internal identifier, iPhone2,1. The next iPhone, because we now know it has an A4 chip, is likewise distinctive enough from the iPhone3GS to be a generation bump. My bet is Apple will internally label it as iPhone3,1. But make no mistake, it will also be a 3G phone.

So... can we call it the "iPhone HD" or even maybe the "iPhone 4?" Continually naming it something it can't possibly be can't be good for anyone.

The million dollar 'best kept secret' is if there will be a Verizon version. AT&T just jacked up the prices for early termination. They think they bought themselves a lifeline with the 6 month extension with the iPad deal.

Back in the day the carrier held all the cards. AT&T wanted a multi-year agreement just to even carry the iPhone. Now Apple is in good enough of a position to say "Hey, so we want some kickass prices on iPad data plans, what will you offer." And all AT&T got out of it was a 6 month extension? Unless they signed some air tight confidentiality agreement all Apple has to say is "yeah, this is an LTE/WiMax phone" and it's more or less a given that it'll be available for Verizon and/or Sprint.

For example he won't use Flash, because it is inferior and crashes OS X (Before it was Flash, he blamed IE).

Stay with me Apple diehards, yet he uses AT&T's network (which gives him kickbacks using money from your monthly data plan that would be better spent on upgrading their network). AT&T is inferior and drops calls.

Interesting how he his arguement for avoiding inferior technology isn't absolute like he pretends, but I live outside his reality distortion field